bleach ➸ cth

chapter two;

Now playing; I Don't Belong In This Club by Why Don't We

A/N is now a good time to mention that i'm british and know fuck all about LA? its a fanfic i cba doing research so just roll with it.

I let out a groan when we finally make it back to our apartment. I drop the paint canisters on the floor in our tiny living room, flopping face first onto the sofa. I hear Tash moving behind me, probably sitting down on one of the two bright orange plastic chairs surrounding our 'dining table', if you can even call it that.

"I didn't think paint shopping could be so stressful," Tasha whispers and I turn to look at her. She genuinely looks traumatised, but I don't blame her in the slightest. When I said I wanted red paint for my walls, I didn't expect to be given at least 50 different shades to look at. The fact we had to walk with six tubs in our arms for five blocks was not the highlight of my day.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to use my arms for the next 3 weeks," I groan, sitting up and rolling my shoulders. My phone
dings in my back pocket and I contemplate ignoring it, but it dings again so I pull it out. It's from Ash.

Ash
4:23pm: Hey Diana, it's Ashton. Just letting you know our plans for tonight! :)

The second text is an address for a night club, which is in Pasadena. I let out a low whistle. It's only about an hour from here and the buses are fairly regular, but fuck me, is it expensive over there.

"What is it?" Tasha asks, getting up from her seat and plonking herself down next me, taking my phone out of my hands. I lean over her shoulder and we look at my phone together.

"You sure you still wanna go tonight?" I question, looking up at her. Tash is chewing on her lip but I can tell she's determined to go.

"Absolutely. Since when do we ever get invited to go anywhere... nice?" And I know she's right; we usually end up in crappy night clubs with shitty EDM music and drinks that taste like toilet water, but at least we can afford it.

I let out a sigh, looking out the window. It's early October, so the sun is still shining at 4:30pm. I try to enjoy the sunshine as much as possible before it starts getting dark at around three.

"Come on, Dee," Tasha's voice takes on that soft tone that I both love and hate. I hate it when she uses it on me, because I know it's fully of sympathy which I don't need, but it also makes me feel comforted, like she's wrapped me in a warm blanket.

"Your parents aren't-"

"This is nothing to do with my parents," I snap at her, though I know deep down it's partially a lie. It always about my parents, but I don't want people to know it. I can't move past it if it's all people see in me.

I close my eyes and let out a breath.

"I want to go, Tash, I do," I start, standing up and walking to a stop in front of her. I grab her hands in mine, "But we need to be careful. We're on our own out here, and we've got to keep an eye on how much we're spending. And I know, it's rich of me to say when I spend so much on tattoos," I say before she can beat me to it, "but I save up for those, I pick up extra shifts just so I can afford them. I don't want to stop us from having fun and living whilst we're young, but we've got to be careful," I finish and she squeezes my hands with a nod of her head.

"I know that, Diana. But this really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, at least for us. We're just two girls who moved half way across the world and are just about making it through life. We deserve to go and splash out a bit- we both work so hard for this," I know she's right, and I nod my head as she continues, "The money will come back. Who knows? If we don't go out tonight, maybe we'll never speak to Ashton again, and we've lost that opportunity to branch out and make new friends, which is exactly why we came out here in the first place,"